You Say “You’re a Flake” Like it’s a Bad Thing

One of my friends was telling me recently that I am ‘such a flake’ – it wasn’t meant as a compliment apparently! Is that anything like you? You get really super enthused about an idea, follow it a little, then get bored/find out it’s not for you/lose interest. Ten minutes later you have another marvelous idea which follows the same pattern. Another hare-brained scheme. Another uncompleted idea. Another “failure”.

And this is a problem why? If it was not for creative, entreprenurial, mercurial, tenacious, stubborn, flighty, flaky people, we would all still be sitting in the dark on a stone floor with no entertainment. Yes, yes, the ability to follow an idea through to completion is good, and if you are one of those lucky folk who knows from the age of 15 what you wish to do with the next 80 years of your life, good for you.

But for the rest of us, being flaky is no bad thing. It is fun. It means that we become very courageous – always trying new things. It builds our confidence. It leads us down paths that many people who stay on the signposted path fail to find. It brings us joy. It makes us interesting. It opens our minds. It broadens our horizons. It potentially brings us to our ‘one path’ (not that I believe in that, but that’s another blog for another day!).

Most great inventors will have had friends and family who poo-poo’d their ideas, told them they were wasting their time and should get ‘a proper job’ and stop trying to invent nuts-o things like light bulbs and tv and blogs. Thankfully they didn’t listen. And nor shall I! My friend, I love you and I really don’t care that you think I’m a flake – I just want you to realise that it is a GOOD thing!

Love

Donna.x
PS this week is your last chance to take advantage of the September Special Offer

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Having a Bad Day?

Ever have a bad day? Next door’s dog wakes you up for the 84th morning in a row barking his head off at a mouse farting 3 miles away, you slip in the shower, all the lights are red, it’s bloody raining, nothing you are expecting has arrived, you feel as creative as a paving slab, and some idiot is trying to cheer you up.

Sadly for me, that ‘some idiot’ is me! A couple of weeks ago, I was having a bad day. I tried music (didn’t drown out the feckin dog!), yoga (couldn’t be bothered to do more than 2 sun salutes), dancing (not in the mood), getting out of the house (it was bloody raining), shifting myself up the emotional scale (worked for about 5 minutes), looking at my life vision (worked for about 5 minutes), tidying up (do I look like I’m in the mood for fecking housework?), gratitude (yeah, yeah), accepting that I’m in a bad mood and not trying to change it for a while, and watching Blackadder episodes.

Blackadder did work up until I got back to my desk. So lastly, I tried writing about it. And FINALLY, something that works! It largely worked because I was so amused at my grim determination to be in a bad mood and therefore have a bad day! I know that this is my choice, so it begs the question ‘why the f… would I choose to be grumpy?’. After some ‘I don’t bloody know’ type answers, I discover my bad mood was trying to do me a favour.

On the basis that every part of every body has a positive intention, my bad mood was doing its absolute best to get me to chill out and DO WHAT I WANT TO DO. I really didn’t want to be sat at my desk that day, but because I was out with friends later and I had a ‘to do’ list, I felt like I ‘had to’. Nonsense. It would have been good if I had, but the world didn’t end.

And here’s the other element – I hadn’t been sleeping for days, my throat was sore, my head was banging, I was feeling really uncared for. It was a terrible shame for me. The solution? I gave myself a break – did what I have to do that afternoon (2 things), then chilled out for an hour before I went out. Having just made the decision to do that, my bad mood lifted and went away…job well done.

- Something to Play With -

How do you cheer you up? In this article are 11 ideas that I use (and I have another 40 or so!). Make a list of things that make you feel better. And then, when the bad mood hits, remember to ask the question ‘why?’. Maybe that part of you that wants to be in a bad mood has a positive intention for you? Want to share your thoughts on this article? Leave a comment below.

Love

Donna.x

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Why Do Something You Simply Don’t Want To Do?

Last week I was wrestling with a decision – not an earth-shattering, life-changing decision (I usually find those easier!), just a humdrum decision…but I couldn’t decide for the life of me what to do. Luckily just as I was in the midst of my indecision, I got a call from a friend. After telling her that I was wrestling with this decision, she said “If you’re trying to talk yourself into that, you clearly don’t want to do it.”

And she was correct. Had I wanted to do this thing I was trying to decide about, I would have. Simple. I didn’t want to but I felt that I ‘should’ so I was trying very hard to talk myself into it. Without success incidentally. As soon as the obvious had been pointed out, I was left with the question: “Why do something you simply don’t want to do?” It’s a good question, to which I have found no rational answer. Of course, sometimes we just have to do the thing we don’t want to. My end of year accounts are a case in point, and I am struggling through them with the aid of loud music and chocolate right now. But there are times when we are trying to push ourselves to do something that doesn’t have to be done and we don’t want to do.

What are you trying to talk yourself into that you simply don’t want to do? And why? If you don’t absolutely have to do it, can you just not do it? And if you have got to do it, find a way to enjoy the doing of it (see aformentioned loud music and chocolate to ease the brain-frying tedium of my accounts!).

Love

Donna.x

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Your Creative Joy

As you will know if you follow this blog closely (and if you do, I thank you!), on a Wednesday I answer a journal prompt from Jamie Ridler of Jamie Ridler Studios. I also listen to Jamie’s weekly podcast on creative living. Jamie is my favourite resource for awakening creativity, and since I came across her site sometime last year, I have steadily been letting out the reins on my own creativity.

I’ve been blogging for years now, so I’m quite happy with the written word as a creative pursuit, but other avenues have been pretty much closed as “I’m no good at” them. Jamie is helping me to remember that it’s not about getting it right, but about expressing your creativity and having fun with it. Many of us were shut down as kids when we tried something and someone else said it was rubbish. So we stopped doing it, even though we had fun. What a shame. Not only that we stopped having fun, but that we bottled up our creativity.

Many people believe they are not creative at all in any way, which I think is just bullshit. Everyone has a spark of creativity in them. Maybe you can’t paint like Picasso, or make music like Mozart, or write like William Shakespeare – but you can be creative in your own way. And I bet that there is some creativity in you that is crying out to be expressed. Expressing creativity is not about creating a masterpiece, it’s just about allowing your creative energy a chance to come out, to dance, to be joyously allowed.

Allowing your creativity a space to be expressed has several benefits. Firstly it’s FUN – remember that thing you used to do as a kid, just because it was fun? When did ‘because it’s fun’ stop being a good reason to do something in your life? Remind yourself of the joy of living by doing something JUST because it’s fun! Secondly, when you start to allow your creative energy to express, it gets stronger and you become MORE creative. And creativity is useful not just for finger painting or making pottery, but in business and in life – the more creative you are, the more easily you will find solutions for any problems you come across.

Thirdly, letting your creativity out makes you feel better – you feel less ‘stoppered up’ and choked, and you feel more free. Fourth, your creativity is part of YOU. Keeping it bottled up means that you are not fully being yourself. Letting it out allows you to be more of you. I’m not saying you have to have an art exhibition or do a music tour or make craftwork your new job. But maybe you want to think about the creative things you loved to do as a child and start doing them again. Not to ‘create art’ but just to express your creativity, have some fun, become more creative, feel good and be yourself.

I am all about creating a life you love, and creativity is a HUGE part of that. And there are so many creative endeavours that I am sure you can find something that captures your attention. Painting, drawing, knitting, sewing, crocheting, writing, sculpture, collage, photography, graphic design, pottery, jewelry-making, singing, dancing, playing an instrument, writing a song, acting… the list could go on for hours. By the way, do not make this hard for yourself. Don’t decide that you can’t do something because you don’t have the right equipment – be creative and do what you can with what you already have.

Leave me a comment and let me know what creative endeavour you’re going to try this week.

Love

Donna.x

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Unplugging and the power of wishes

This weekend I took some time out to unplug. From Friday night to Sunday night I did not switch on my laptop – it’s the longest I’ve done that for (when I have not been away from home) for months. And it was wonderful. I found myself getting more done, including some things I had been putting off for 6 months. I felt more relaxed. I felt time expanding – at 5pm the rest of the day stretched before me to do whatever I wish, rather than thinking ‘Oh God, is it that time already? I haven’t done anything I wanted to do today because I’ve been pissing about on the computer!’

Did I miss anything? Possibly…but I doubt it. I’m certain I didn’t miss anything earth shattering, and I definitely didn’t miss the ability of the internet and my laptop to leech away hours of my time!

I also found that I felt more creative – ideas had the time and space to come to me, and they came in abundance. It was a creative explosion! it took me about 2 hours to write up onto the computer all the ideas I had over the weekend! If I’d spent 2 hours with the computer switched on, probably 60% of that time would be ‘uncreative’ time.

Isn’t it curious that on Wednesday I said I needed to set limits on my internet time? On Thursday and Friday a little voice said ‘stop’ when I was obsessively checking twitter and by Saturday I had switched off for nearly 48 hours. Jamie Ridler suggests that casting wishes is powerful and magical…and this is certainly my experience this year. When you get clear on your wishes, you have planted a seed which can then grow in the background while you are getting on with your life. That’s what happened with last week’s wish!

Love

Donna.x

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What Limits Do I Wish To Set

Wishcasting Wednesday is here again.

What Limits Do I Wish To Set

Today’s wish is really easy: I wish to set limits on the time I spend on the computer (the irony that I am writing this at 20 to 11 at night is not lost on me!); I wish to set limits on the amount of time I spend trying to escape from facebook and twitter! I wish to set limits on the time I spend thinking about work when I’m not working (the joys of having your own business!); I wish to set limits on the time I spend procrastinating working and get cracking on the fabulous projects I have in the pipeline! All of the limits are on my time – to give me more structure, which is something I always resist as I see myself as more of a free living spirit! But that structure, I know, would give me more freedom. I wish to set limits that allow me the freedom to live.

Get involved on Jamie’s blog, or leave a comment here. As you wish for yourself, I wish for you also.

Love

Donna.x

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What Burden Do You Wish to Put Down?

Wishcasting Wednesday is here again. A thought-provoking one this week.

What Burden Do You Wish to Put Down?

The burden that I wish to put down is the burden of expectation. I have always had very high standards and expectations for myself. I always thought that this was a good thing – it fuelled my drive, ambition and determination to make the most of myself and my life. But it also gave me an impossible standard to live up to. So if I put down that burden of expectation, I still get to be my most brilliant, creative and determined self but I can relax about the outcome of that. I can just enjoy being the best of who I am and doing the best I can without the expectation to live up to. I can relax and just allow life to unfold around me. The more I think about it, the more I realise that this is a HUGE burden…and without it I feel light as a feather. Que Sera Sera!

What Burden Do You Wish to Put Down? Get involved on Jamie’s blog, or leave a comment here. As you wish for yourself, I wish for you also.

Love

Donna.x

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What Do You Wish to Enjoy?

Wishcasting Wednesday is here again. This week was an easy one for me to answer:

What do you wish to enjoy?

I’ve had an infection for the last week and been poorly. The infection has now gone, but left me feeling wiped out. So I wish to enjoy radiant good health, I wish to enjoy a life full of vibrant energy and joie de vivre.

What do you wish to enjoy? Get involved on Jamie’s blog, or leave a comment here. As you wish for yourself, I wish for you also.

Love

Donna.x

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What Hunger Do I Wish to Feed

It’s Wishcasting Wednesday with Jamie Ridler – Jamie says this week’s post is inspired by the full moon, and on her blog is an amazing video of a wolf howling. There’s something very primal about the howling of a wolf that seems to reach into you and pull out at the hungers within you, pull at your vulnerabilities, reach right into that wild wo/man within you and call her forth. So to the prompt:

What Hunger Do I Wish to Feed?

Again, I didn’t have an immediate answer to this one, it was something I had to mull over for a couple of hours before I had an answer (which I really want to point out that when you are trying to listen to your soul, you can’t always get an instant answer…so give yourself a chance to bring that answer forth with time, gentleness, love and peace. You can’t rush the river!) When the answer came it wasL

Expansion.

My hunger for growth – as a person, as a business, as a spirit. I want to expand, to grow, to be everything it is possible for me to be. The hunger I want to feed is the hunger to be ALL of who I am. Fully, powerfully, beautifully, joyously.

Woo, that feels powerful! I love these Wishcasting prompts – join in, what hunger do you wish to feed? As you wish for yourself, I wish for you also.

Love

Donna.x

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Wishcasting Wednesday – What do I wish to renew?

For Jamie Ridler’s Wishcasting Wednesday this week she asks, what do you wish to renew?

For me, I wish to renew my enthusiasm for my business. After 6 years of self-employment, I think I’ve become a little jaded and blase about it…and I want to treat it with the joy, passion and energy it deserves – as I did in the beginning, before I had any idea what I was doing, when I had no experience of anything and no clue how to run a business! Now, from this new place I’m in, where I know infinitely more than I did then, the enthusiasm will be the rocket fuel that takes me to the next level.

What do you wish to renew?

Love

Donna.x

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